French GunmanÂ Named and Says he Committed Murders 'To Avenge Palestinian Children'

The gunman suspected of killing three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school shooting has wounded three police officers in a shoot-out at a house in Toulouse in south western France.

Heavily armed Police have surrounded the flat and are negotiating with, a 24 year old man of Algerian descent called Mohamed. He has said he belongs to al-Qaeda and acted to "avenge Palestinian children, and to take revenge on the French army because of its foreign interventions.". The suspects brother has also been arrested. And Police are looking for further accomplices.

The man's mother has been brought to the scene, but said she had refused to become involved as "she had little influence on him".